55. Who Invited The Vampire?
55
Who Invited The Vampire?
Aliza
T wo horses had been selected to fly alongside Saeth. The first had one minor cut below the hock that was healing well and would not impede flight, the other sported a nasty, stitched wound to the chest that had initially caused me to rule him out, but he’d been the only one to show a reluctant level of tolerance toward Jacques. In the end, there had been no other option. Even Saeth–whose wing was sprouting tufty new feathers–would not allow the vampire near, even with Idris’ cajoling.
Anwir and the witches had returned to the house at Sage’s insistence; she would only allow Pansy to come once the witch had accepted a layer of green paste and some dressings over her puncture wounds.
Idris, the only trained rider in the group, had selected tack for our mounts. Trusting that he knew what he was doing, I leaned on the stable door, observing and trying to ignore the twisting of my guts. My limbs tingled, urging me to take action, but all I could do was jiggle my leg and force myself to breathe.
“The saddles are weird,” I said into the sleepy silence as Idris positioned the impossibly small contraption over the pad on the horse’s back and bent low to retrieve the girth from where it trailed on the floor. The horse shifted its wing to make space for him.
The saddle was little more than a glorified belt with a tiny seat and a few loops that made me think of riding donkeys at the beach. All of it was shaped in a way that the wing joints could move without interference.
“They’re functional,” Idris replied, and I curled my lip at such a boring word.
“What are the loops for?”
Idris gripped one of the larger, rigid loops, positioned on either side of the withers. “These are for stability. We can hold them during manoeuvres, or in combat. These” — he slid his hand through the larger but supple loop positioned behind the wing — “is used for standing.”
“Why on earth would anyone want to stand up in the sky?”
I expected him to laugh, but he only levelled me with a sombre stare and said, “I had to do it, to save you.”
Oh.
We hadn’t gone into detail about that day. Losing consciousness had been a blessing, and I had no desire to discover the details I’d been blissfully ignorant to, but considering what we planned to do, maybe now was as good a time as any.
My heart picked up speed. “Tell me about it.”
His face whitened, and I added hurriedly, “I don’t mean the gory details. Just tell me why you had to do something as dangerous as standing up in the sky.”
“I did it because… when I was striking you on the ground it wasn’t working, and I was running out of time. I took you into the storm, where my lightning was strongest, but I couldn’t strike you while Saeth was there, so I had to jump.”
He what? He’d jumped off his horse in the sky? With me? The ground lurched beneath my feet as though I was falling from the heavens, and my knuckles whitened on the stable door.
“How did we survive?”
Idris set about fitting the bridle. His hands shook as he fumbled the buckles, though his voice was steady and matter-of-fact as he said, “My own magic can’t harm me, and you needed it. Like the defibilltor you told me about.”
“Defibrillator,” I corrected automatically. “That’s not what I meant. How did we survive the fall?”
“I teleported before we hit the ground.”
“Oh my god,” I muttered, my vision going fuzzy at the edges. I’d basically skydived without a parachute. Nausea roiled in my stomach. “We don’t have to do any teleporting today, do we?”
“We can’t,” he reminded me, patting the horse on its broad neck and heading to the door. I shifted, allowing him to pass. “But whatever happens, no harm will come to you.”
“You don’t know that,” I squeaked, as though this mission wasn’t my bright idea.
“I do.” He stepped close enough that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
The bond swelled behind my ribs, growing stronger in his presence like we were two magnets, pulled together by forces we had no control over. Maybe that was exactly what we were. Powerless.
He trailed his fingers along my cheekbone, tucking my hair behind my ear. “I won’t allow it. As long as I breathe, I’ll keep you safe.”
“Make sure you keep breathing for a really long time, yeah?” Not because I needed his protection, but because living without him was unthinkable. How had I managed twenty-four years before him? Who had I existed for, if not him?
“I have no intention of dying when I’ve only just found you.”
Love. That was all it was, wasn’t it? It was love that pulled me in, love that had me orbiting him like he was the brightest star in the universe. Love and an everlasting bond that meant everything .
“Good, because you tied yourself to me, remember? This” — I tapped my fingers against my sternum, below my thundering heart — “is unbreakable.”
His eyes dropped to my hand, lingering on the movement, on the spot I’d touched. He knew , just as I did. Maybe better. I was new to this body, and everything that came with it, but he wasn’t. If I was almost certain, then he must be as sure as a new sunrise. There was more to this than either of us had admitted.
“Don’t tell me you don’t feel it,” I whispered, and those breathtaking yellow-green orbs lifted to me again. There was something written in them that I couldn’t read. Close to fear, but not quite. “Don’t tell me it means nothing.”
He only stared at me, his brow furrowed, lips pressed together in a way that told me he was on the verge of saying something terribly important. He gulped, taking a deep breath in through his nose. “Aliza, about—”
“I found nothing small enough for the witches,” Jacques announced at large, strolling down the aisle with a mound of leather in his arms. “They will need to roll up their sleeves. ”
Idris tensed, giving his head a minute shake as though waking from a trance. What had he been about to say? Was it about the bond, or something else entirely? I wanted to grab him and shake the words free. Why couldn’t Jacques have given us a few seconds more?
The vampire dumped the flight leathers on the ground, selected a piece, and proffered it to me with a gleaming smile. “This will fit you like a glove, mon amie.”
Idris didn’t bother to bite back. I risked a glance at him, only to find his beautiful, mournful eyes already on me.
His regret pulsed in my chest, a bleeding, aching wound.